Just Tonight?
by tahwekilelohcin
Summary: Drabble. Oneshot. Pointless really, but I like it.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Harry Potter.

**A/N**: It's an attack of the one-shot! Pointless really. Lots of angst, as is my wont. :)

* * *

He was waiting for me when I finally arrived, hours after I'd promised him I'd be there. It had been harder to get away than I had originally planned on. It seemed everyone in Grimmauld Place knew there was something a bit off with me lately, they just hadn't known what. And after tonight, they'd never get the chance to. I was ending it; there was simply no other course of action to take. It was something I should've done earlier, something I would've done earlier if I had still retained even a fraction of the person I had once been.

He rose from his sitting position on the dusty staircase. He didn't ask what had taken me so long. We both knew he didn't truly want to know; it was a mix of not caring yet caring far too much.

We never expected our relationship to be uncomplicated (if we had we would've been sorely mistaken). But we weren't dreamers (at least not any longer). We were realistic people (at least when it came to most things).

After standing for a moment he brushed the dust off his dark robes. (Something, anything to keep his hands otherwise occupied.)

I could feel his eyes boring into me. But I couldn't bare to bring my eyes up to meet his, my line of vision focusing at nothing in particular on the cold stone flooring, I drew in a shaky breath and barely managed to whisper, "Never again."

I knew this wasn't the greeting he'd been expecting, and he affirmed it when he brought his hand toward my face. I couldn't help but flinch away. He wasn't deterred though, his hand coming to rest gently on my jawbone, lingering for a moment before he tilted my head upward to face his. All I had to do was keep my eyes down. But it was no good, I had to look up. And when I did I was instantly lost in his overwhelmingly grey eyes. And I couldn't help but notice his voice matched mine almost exactly as he questioned -- almost pleaded, "Just tonight?"

It was all wrong. I _knew _it was all wrong. This simply couldn't be. _We _couldn't be. Even after all we'd been through neither of us had the right nor the freedom to be anything remotely close to this. But even more importantly it wasn't rational and it never could be. But _I_ wasn't -- I couldn't be -- rational when I was in close proximity to him. And for years to come, irrationality would be precisely what I'd blame. I was still lost in his eyes, when I finally found my voice and murmured my concession, "...okay."

That was all he needed; and without letting another second pass he pulled me close to him, moved me backwards, helped me lose myself. Lose myself. The phrase flitted through my mind as his lips met mine, the sensation wiping out all thought. Seconds -- minutes passed. Somewhere along the line, contact was broken.

It was back "Lose myself. _Lost _myself"

This time I latched onto it, realizing with a start that's what this was -- had been, had _always _been -- about.

His hands began to inch beneath my robes. His hands...

This had to stop. I couldn't let this carry on. _We _couldn't carry on. Not anymore. Not ever again.

I moved my hands from their residing place on his back to his chest, gently pushing him away. Questioning grey eyes met mine, his hands catching mine, his body moving toward mine again.

I choked back a sob that had seemingly come out of nowhere. Now concerned eyes were searching mine, looking for an answer.

But it was clear he knew the answer. He might very well have known the answer all along -- had known it was only a matter of a little time before I caught on as well.

Now openly crying, I began, "Draco, I --"

He closed his eyes, resting his forehead on mine, sighed, "I know. You don't have to say it. I- I know."

And with that he let go of me, in more than one sense. It took everything I had to let him out of my embrace. It was odd he had become something so stable in my life. But no longer, we were both crumbling now. _It had only been a matter of time_.

But I couldn't crumble for long. My "Happily Ever After" was waiting to begin. It was all I had ever wanted and now I had it.

Happily ever after, indeed.


End file.
